Audio 5:16
Accusations fly after sports coruption revelations

Simon LauderUpdated
Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:52 PM AEDT

The AFL Players' Association says it's been contacted by worried players who are now having second thoughts about substances which their teams directed them to take. As retribution for widespread drug taking looms, the Association is worried players will shoulder more than their fair share of the blame.

Transcript

SALLY SARA: As Australian sports fans absorb yesterday's revelations about widespread drug taking and criminal involvement in professional sport, the recriminations have begun, and the retribution seems not far behind.

The AFL Player's Association is worried that athletes will shoulder the blame for taking substances which have been pushed on them by their clubs.

The association says it's been taking calls from worried players who are now having second thoughts about supplements, which they'd been told were legal and safe.

The association says it won't rule out court action against clubs which have provided prohibited supplements, and it's also calling for new laws to protect players from unscrupulous sports scientists.

Simon Lauder reports.

SIMON LAUDER: The report by the Australian Crime Commission has put every team in every professional sport under a cloud.

Now the Gold Coast Titans are under pressure to explain a vial of liquid discovered in a dressing room used by the NRL team. Police apparently found it in a toilet system during a training exercise at Skilled Park stadium on Tuesday. Titans chief executive, David May.

DAVID MAY: I know a lot of people assume just because it is our home ground, they assume a linkage with us but the facts of the matter are, we don't know how long that sample has been there. There is hundreds of teams have used that dressing room over the life of the stadium.

SIMON LAUDER: This morning senior figures in the NRL and the A-League are playing down expectations that their codes will be heavily implicated.

ANDREW DEMETRIOU: We're in a new world now and whatever we've been doing before, it's not enough. It's just not enough because they continued to go after the big money and to try to seek to infiltrate and they are very effective.

SIMON LAUDER: As the pressure to clean up the sport ramps up, the head of the AFL Player's Association, Matthew Finnis, is worried that too much of the blame will go to the players who have taken the drugs and not enough to the officials and sports scientists who provided them.

MATTHEW FINNIS: The culpability of players can vary significantly and particularly where they place the firmest trust and confidence in those who are employed by their club to direct them and we must ensure that culpability lies at the feet of those who might use unethical or insidious practices which not only expose the integrity of the sport but also expose the very health and well-being of our athletes.

SIMON LAUDER: Who are you worried will escape that culpability when the dust settles?

MATTHEW FINNIS: Oh, look I mean I think the fact that the Australian Crime Commission is involved gives us confidence that people won't escape that culpability but from our perspective, if there's been a lack of governance or oversight around some of these programs which as the crime commission tell it, included the administration of substances which were not even approved for human use, if there's been a lack of oversight around that then I think people should stood up and take responsibility for that.

SIMON LAUDER: The crime commission says organised crime groups are taking advantage of a regulatory weakness in Australia - those who supply certain prohibited substances to athletes do not commit a crime in Australian jurisdictions, but athletes who use the substances face substantial penalties and bans.

Matt Finnis says the AFL Player's Association has been taking calls from players concerned that they may have taken an prohibited substance under false pretences.

MATTHEW FINNIS: Our association has been having conversations with a number of players and certainly the confidence with which players have, perhaps even just last week, had to, you know something that they might have been directed to take by their club, compared to their confidence in that right now, is clearly eroding.

SIMON LAUDER: And when you say a number of players, we're led to believe it's widespread so I take it is probably players from all teams?

MATTHEW FINNIS: Oh look, I mean obviously this is all very early days. I can tell that we haven't had players from all teams contacting us but we will be getting on the front foot and talking to players firstly ourselves so that they understand where the issues that have been made, the concerns that we have and what measures are available for them.

SIMON LAUDER: Is there a prospect that if players find out they have been given illegal substances and told that its, you know, the team practice to take them, that players might take legal action?

MATTHEW FINNIS: Look, I couldn't rule that out and our primary focus right now is how we can support the investigations that go along, how we can obviously support our members so that they can cooperate as well.

MATTHEW FINNIS: I'm concerned as a result of information which come about this week that more can be done regarding the life and the welfare of athletes you know, it can put those at risk and we as an industry need to do more to protect that.

SIMON LAUDER: Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says the AFL's drugs policy is to blame. He says it's unenforceable and should be replaced with a zero tolerance approach.